CLEARINGHOUSES FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL EDUCATION AND LOOTING: LEAP AND LOOT
Patricia C. Knoll
Introduction
LEAP (the Listing of Education in Archeological Programs) and LOOT (a listing of prosecuted cases of looting and vandalism of archaeological resources) are two computerized archaeological clearinghouses that are intended to assist in the identification of relevant information about educational products and programs, and prosecutions of archaeological looters. The clearinghouses have been developed by the National Park Service, Archeological Assistance Division, in cooperation with federal, state, and local agencies throughout the country. The purpose of this article is to describe the background and intent of these clearinghouses, how they work, and examples of their use. The necessity for this article can be illustrated by an event that took place in a New Mexico National Forest. In the Fall of 1985, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer was on patrol. As part of his duties, he stopped to see if there were any recent disturbances at a prehistoric archaeological site where looting had taken place. He noticed a vehicle parked on the road near the site and requested a license check from headquarters. As he made his way to investigate, he noticed an individual coming toward him from the direction of the site. The officer suspected that he may have been a looter as there was evidence of fresh dirt on his hands and clothes. When asked if he had been digging in the nearby archaeological site, the suspect responded that he had, but that he didn't know he was doing anything wrong. He reported that while on a hike with his son a few weeks earlier, they had come across the site with a large looter's hole in it and began to dig, looking for artifacts. The officer informed him that he may have broken the law and that he had to return any artifacts he had taken. When asked if he had dug at the site before, the suspect replied that he had dug there on two other occasions in the same hole. He also admitted that he knew that he was on National Forest land, but again stated that he didn't know he was doing anything wrong. This is a classic problem regarding archaeological resource looting and vandalism. People (campers, hikers, weekend enthusiasts, hobbyists, etc.) are actively removing pieces of the past and don't think, believe, or know that there is anything wrong with what they are doing. Incidents of looting and vandalism of archaeological sites are increasing. One of the major problems is that people are not aware of what archaeological resources are, of their importance, or of laws protecting them from unauthorized disturbance. They do not realize that picking up an artifact or using a metal detector to find Civil War period objects is affecting archaeological resources, or that on federal and Indian land and in many states these activities are illegal. The popularity of movies such as the "Indiana Jones" series have romanticized archaeology and brought it to the attention of the public. This heightening of awareness can be very positive, however, problems arise when people do not realize that their own explorations can permanently damage archaeological sites. They are not aware that artifacts and other remains removed from their context lose most of what they can tell about the past. In addition, since many people tend to collect the most attractive types of artifacts, such as projectile points and ceramics, the loss of the artifact or even an entire class of artifacts can greatly diminish what can be learned about the site as a whole. One solution to this problem is better public education through a variety of materials and methods that will attract the public's attention toward a positive response. In August of 1985 and July of 1986, Jerry L. Rogers, the Associate Director for Cultural Resources of the National Park Service, and Bennie C. Keel, then Departmental Consulting Archeologist, hosted interagency meetings to discuss improving implementation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA). Participating in those meetings were cultural resource and law enforcement personnel from a wide variety of federal agencies. One of the primary concerns raised by the participants was the problem of archaeological looting and vandalism on public lands. One suggestion that the participants made in an effort to combat this problem was to organize a clearinghouse of information about federal archaeological activities, particularly public education efforts and anti-looting initiatives.
The Listing of Education in Archeological Programs (LEAP)
Following up on these suggestions, the National Park Service hosted an interagency meeting of federal archaeologists and historic preservation officers in September of 1986, specifically to discuss archaeological public awareness initiatives. Participants at this meeting again expressed the need to establish a clearinghouse for information on public awareness programs, projects, and products used to inform the public about archaeology. The Archeological Assistance Division of the National Park Service agreed to establish and maintain the clearinghouse. An initial round of data collection was accomplished through an invitation from the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks to all federal agency heads with archaeological programs requesting their participation in the clearinghouse. They were asked to complete an information form on each of the agency's archaeological projects or programs that included a public awareness effort. The Archeological Assistance Division staff also publicized the existence of the clearinghouse and requested information through informal contacts, presentations at meetings, newsletters, and journal announcements. The result of this initial compilation of data was named the Listing of Education in Archeological Programs (LEAP) Clearinghouse. The original objective of the LEAP Clearinghouse was to improve the sharing of information among public agencies, and potentially others (states, academia, and museums), about efforts to make the results of archaeological programs or projects more readily available to the general public. This objective since has expanded to include any public or private group interested in promoting its archaeological educational activities. The LEAP Clearinghouse contains, but is not limited to, information on:
The LEAP Clearinghouse is intended as a reference for federal, state, and local agencies, museums, societies, educational organizations, and individual archaeologists that are seeking information on existing projects, programs, and products to increase public awareness of archaeology. To date, more than 430 responses have been received from 13 federal agencies and 70 state and local governments, academic institutions, museums, societies, and private foundations and companies, resulting in approximately 1,300 individual entries of various products used in public education activities. With a dBASEIII Plus program originally designed by Edward Friedman, then of the Minerals Management Service, and later modified by a consultant/computer programmer, the entries (records) may be queried for summary information under the categories of agency, state, and specific product. The product-specific portion cites title (of product), sponsoring agency or institution, contact person (address and telephone), and a narrative summary of the product. The brief narrative contains information about the project or program to which it relates, organization, production, use, distribution, availability, etc. (Figure 1). An initial LEAP report has been published summarizing the nearly 1,300 individual records in the clearinghouse (Knoll 1990). Information in the report has been organized into chapters by major product categories:
Product sub-categories provide additional methods and materials under the main category. For example, "Public Participation Programs" includes the sub-categories of "Volunteer Programs" and "Tours;" "School Education Programs" includes the sub-categories of "Curriculum" (elementary, middle, secondary, adult) and "Classroom Presentations." Under each product, individual organizations (federal, state, local, or private) are listed by the state in which the archaeological project or program occurred. For additional easy reference, there are indices organized by agency, product category and title, and project/program title. A few examples of how the LEAP Clearinghouse can be used are as follows:
Additional editions of the LEAP summary report will be produced either as updates or as supplemental inserts, on a schedule commensurate with the level of new information received. The clearinghouse will be maintained as long as users supply information and updates and find the summaries useful. The possibility has been discussed that in the future, the query capabilities of the clearinghouse database may be used for telephone requests for the most up-to-date information. Information may be submitted to the LEAP Clearinghouse by any federal, state, and local government, academic institution, archaeological or historical society, museum, private foundation, or company that has utilized outreach methods and materials to promote an archaeological project or program to the public.
The LOOT Clearinghouse
Another result of the federal agencies' conference in the Summer of 1986 and subsequent Public Awareness Working Group meetings (a committee chaired by the National Park Service, Archeological Assistance Division) was the establishment of the LOOT Clearinghouse. The looting of archaeological sites has been recognized as a problem since the late nineteenth century, when the avarice of private collectors of antiquities made looting a profitable business. This occurred in Egypt, Greece, the United States, and elsewhere, and still occurs today. Preliminary analyses of available quantitative data on archaeological looting in the United States show that there are ten to fifteen times the number of reported incidents of looting and vandalism as compared to the number of arrests made or citations given (see King, McAllister, and McManamon this volume for further discussion on the extent of archaeological looting in the United States). Even fewer of those cases are prosecuted and result in criminal convictions or civil penalties. The number of reported incidents have increased in each of the years for which data are available (FY 1985-FY 1987), while the number of prosecutions remains about the same. Improved information collection may be the basis for increases in the numbers of reported incidents, but this does not mitigate what seems to be the general trend - very few incidents are discovered in time to apprehend the looters or vandals, much less prevent damage to the archaeological sites. Many solutions to the problem have been proposed and a wide attack on the problem is necessary (Society for American Archaeology 1990). One of the most important efforts is to improve incident documentation and information exchange on prosecution cases. A major objective of such efforts is to improve coordination of law enforcement and archaeological resource protection on a regional, interagency basis. The LOOT Clearinghouse is designed to be this kind of information exchange. The objective of the LOOT Clearinghouse is to provide a central place for those seeking information about cases in which looting or vandalism of archaeological resources on public lands have been prosecuted. It is intended for use by federal, state, and local agencies who also may request information and advice on how to pursue ARPA cases. In order to gather information about looting and vandalism cases, a form was developed to systematically collect these data. The form requests information on arrests, indictments, trials, pleas, judgements, sentences, fines, and forfeitures. These summary records are currently maintained within an in-house word processing system, but will soon be entered into a computerized program. At this writing there are approximately 70 cases in the database dating from 1936 to the present. The Archeological Assistance Division is working with cultural resource and law enforcement officials in public agencies on appropriate means of distributing this information. An excellent example of what the LOOT Clearinghouse can do follows. In March 1989, U.S. Forest Service archaeologists and law enforcement officers began to notice new evidence of looting to known and undocumented archaeological sites in a northern California National Forest. Patrols and surveillance efforts were increased, including the use of electronic sensing equipment, in hope of apprehending the looters. More than two months of weekend surveillance and evidence gathering eventually succeeded. While en route to conduct surveillance at a newly discovered but frequently looted site, an officer noticed fresh tire tracks on the trailhead leading to the site. He followed the tracks of the suspects and observed them in the process of digging, sifting dirt through a wire-mesh screen, and setting aside artifacts. The officer photographed the two suspects and then radioed for backup. When later confronted by officers, the two men said they didn't know that they were on Government property. One man said he had never dug before and was just collecting arrowheads for school. Both men were arrested for vandalizing and looting the site of a prehistoric Indian village. They were charged with destruction of Government property, conspiracy, and excavating an archaeological resource without a permit, a violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA). During the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers found maps belonging to the suspects with locations of archaeological sites on federal land marked. They also found equipment that had been used so much in digging that they were worn out, and extensive private collections of prehistoric projectile points and other tools, beads, and some human remains. One suspect moved most of his collection from his home and hid it so that it would not be confiscated by police. The two men pleaded guilty to all charges and were subsequently convicted. Since this was the first ARPA case in California, the judge was not familiar with the types of sentences applied in such cases. He postponed sentencing until the prosecution could provide information about other ARPA cases. The Special Agent from the National Forest involved in the case notified the Archeological Assistance Division and the LOOT Clearinghouse to request the data. The agent needed to know how many ARPA cases had been prosecuted, how many of those cases were felonies, and the type of sentence given for each case in terms of prison time, forfeitures, and fines. The information was available in the LOOT Clearinghouse and was provided to the agent, prosecutor, and judge. Both men were sentenced to 60 days in jail, one year of supervised release, $1,000 fine, forfeiture of the all-terrain vehicles used in the crime, and forfeiture of significant portions of their private collections. The LOOT Clearinghouse also provides case statistics to be included in the Secretary of the Interior's annual report to Congress on federal archaeological activities (Keel et al. 1989), and has contributed to other official inquiries about looting and vandalism. The clearinghouse will be maintained as long as users find the case studies useful and information continues to be supplied.
Conclusion
The goals of the LEAP and LOOT Clearinghouses ultimately are to make an impact in the battle against looting and vandalism through information exchange. The clearinghouses are in the beginning stages and have only just begun to acquire the large quantity of data that is known to exist about archaeological education and awareness programs, and looting and vandalism cases. They seem to be helpful in providing needed information in these areas, but require more cooperation and coordination to be successful. The clearinghouses also can be considered prototypes for similar information gathering efforts that can lead to better understanding of and more solutions to these archaeological issues.
Note: Portions of this article have been previously presented in Knoll and Knudson's introduction to Knoll (1990).
Acknowledgements: The author kindly wishes to thank Dr. Francis P. McManamon, Dr. Elizabeth A. Crowell, Dr. Robert Schumacher, and John S. Knoll for their valuable comments and support in this debut endeavor.
References Cited
Judge, J., and Bruen, B., compilers, and Wildesen, L., editor. (1990) Save the Past for the Future: Actions for the '90s. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C.
Keel, B.C., McManamon, F.P., and Smith, G.S. (1989) Federal Archeology: The Current Program. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
Knoll, P.C. editor (1990) Listing of Education in Archeological Programs: The LEAP Clearinghouse, 1987-1989 Summary Report. National Park, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. [out of print as of October 2000, see NTIS: Order Number: PB93-213460INZ].
Return to the Table of Contents Open the Microsoft Word Version of this Article
|
